Indoor Football Weekly #10 Preseason 2017, Part 2: Champions Indoor Football

Credit: Our Sports Central

One preseason has started and one is about to begin this week. The Indoor Football League preseason started last week and even had a game (we'll recap that later) and the CIF preseason starts this week with another game!

As we did last week, we're covering the history of indoor football as a special for the 20th Season for the sport. After the 1998 season the PIFL would fold and break up in to two leagues. One league (the IPFL) would take the remnants of the Honolulu Hurricanes (now the Hawaii Hammerheads), the Colorado Wildcats (now the Rocky Mountain Thunder) and the '98 PIFL Champion Louisiana Bayou Beast along with 3 expansion clubs. The (original) IFL was founded by the Green Bay Bombers and Madison Mad Dogs owner Keary Ecklund with those clubs and 6 expansion teams. The IPFL would play 16 games and see all 6 clubs survive the regular season. In the championship game Hawaii would beat the Texas Terminators by a score of 28-16 to win the IPFL title. However at the end of the season only 2 clubs (Idaho and Mississippi) would ring in the new millennium with the IPFL. On the other hand the IFL would play a 12 game schedule in 1999 and it would go much better than the IPFL. In the '99 IFL Gold Cup, Green Bay would travel to Peoria and bomb the Pirates with a 63-60 win. All 8 clubs (plus a few expansion clubs) would come back for the 2000 season. As with '98 there are no clubs left from the 1999 season and only 2 markets still have the indoor game. Green Bay (as we covered last time) and the only addition to them is Dayton. Dayton will have an expansion team (the Dayton Wolfpack) in the new NAL, while they have not announced their arena the Nutter Center at Wright State University is expected to be their home since the Hara Arena has closed.

Now back to the current day and age. As we covered last week the IFL preseason has begun and it opened this past weekend on Saturday night when the Iowa Barnstormers traveled to the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids to take on the Titans. The Barnstormers would take down the Titans 38-26 on the road. An overall sloppy game with both teams needing to clean a lot up before the regular season, but that can only be expected after just four days of practice. This weekend will see the second (and only other) preseason game is this Saturday when the Wichita Falls Nighthawks host the SIF's travel only Cap City Bulls at the Kay Yeager Coliseum.

Champions Indoor Football, the second of three stops on the 2017 preseason preview. The CIF has preseason game starting this weekend (Feb 12th) and going through the first week of the regular season (Feb 26th). After all the exhibitions are played half of the league (7/14) clubs will have played an exhibition game, and unlike the IFL all the games are against Non-League opponents.

Northern Division

The CIF's Northern Division sees 4 of 6 clubs return to it from 2016 (Wichita was moved to the Southern and Chicago folded) along with three expansion clubs. These clubs include two completely new expansion teams the Bismarck Bucks and Kansas City Phantoms along with 2016 AIF runner up the West Michigan Ironmen. With Wichita's move to the South the Northern Division will have unmatched parity that normally isn't seen in this sport. Bloomington, Sioux City, and Omaha all finished last season at 7-5. Look for Sioux City (who won the CIF in 2015 to continue to compete along with Omaha and Kansas City to challenge for first throughout the season. As of right now I think the other four clubs, including the expansion clubs will be fighting for third place. 

Southern Division

The South of the CIF is the total opposite of the North, and it starts with the defending league champion Wichita Force along with the two best from last year's Southern Division the Amarillo Venom and Texas Revolution. Those clubs have a good chance at finishing 1-2-3. Dodge City and Duke City will have a fight on their hands to get into one of the playoff spots. Dallas (formerly Mesquite) and the expansion CenTex Cavalry will have some work to not finish in the cellar in 2017.

Games to Watch

Unfortunately with just a few days until the preseason games starting no streaming for the 2017 CIF Season has been announced. Last season the streaming was free with Eversport but hopefully the CIF moves elsewhere and keeps it free. As for what to watch the season opener between Sioux City and Omaha is definitely the first one to watch in 2017. The next is the Week 9 matchup between the Texas Revs and the Amarillo Venom. I also wouldn't count out any of the in the final 3 weeks of the season as they will be the key to the playoffs.

As with the IFL preseason starting last week, Champions Indoor Football's preseason games start this week. The Omaha Beef will host the Omaha Outlaws this Sunday February 12th. We'll have one more preseason preview with the National Arena League in a few weeks!

Indoor Football Weekly #9 Preseason 2017, Part 1: Indoor Football League

Credit: Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Ohhhhhhh yes it's that time again, the preseason is upon us! That's right it's football time once again and the 2017 season is looking like it could be the best in years! We have 3 good leagues this season in the IFL, CIF, and NAL. Without American Indoor Football it looks like 2017 will be clean but who knows in this sport.

Credit: http://www.markthompson.us/gameballs/IPFL/

To start off 2017 is a special year in the sport as it marks the 20th anniversary of the Indoor (not Arena) game being played. That first league was the original Professional Indoor Football League founded and playing only the 1998 Season. 1998 was not a year without it's difficulties as the Minnesota Monsters (coached by Ron Simmons) would fold after just 5 league games, the Texas Bullets would fold after 10 games, and the Utah Catzz forfeited their final game to the Madison Mad Dogs. In the championship game the Louisiana Bayou Beast defeated the Madison Mad Dogs 42-41 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, LA. After 1998 the PIFL folded and splintered into 2 leagues, the IPFL and original IFL but that is a story for another time. There are no clubs remaining from the original PIFL in the 1998 season and only 3 markets still have clubs. Green Bay (the Bombers) now have the Green Bay Blizzard who have played in the Resch Center (not the old Brown County Veterans Memorial Coliseum) since 2003. Belton, TX (Texas Bullets) will have the CenTex Cavalry playing out of their old stomping grounds, the Bell County Expo Center. And finally the Greater Salt Lake area (Utah Catzz in Orem, UT) will also have an expansion team the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles playing at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, UT. This history section will be a recurring feature this year in Indoor Football Weekly.

Now onto the real stuff! Let's start with the first league kicking off the Indoor Football League! The IFL players reported for training camp already and started on January 30th. Now let's start off with some previews.

Intense Conference

The Intense Conference has some familiar clubs returning such as the Nebraska Danger and Colorado Crush along with last years Intense Conference Champion Spokane Empire. They'll be joined by two new clubs the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles and perennial AFL stalwart the Arizona Rattlers. Salt Lake and "Project Fanchise" do NOT look impressive right now and there slotted at #5 in the Intense. On the other hand Colorado finished 2016 in 4th place at 4-12. While they don't look impressive they do look like they will give Nebraska, who is defiantly in a rebuilding phase, a run for their money for third place. And that is where the problem lies, last season with 6 clubs (3 in each conference) making the playoffs the end of the season was exciting! Colorado and the now folded Tri-Cities Fever weren't out until later and Nebraska and the now folded Billings Wolves fought to the end for the First Round home game! This will not be the case as the IFL has gone back to just 4 teams (2 from each conference) making the playoffs.  And THAT fact brings us to our last 2 clubs the Spokane Empire and Arizona Rattlers. Last years Intense Conference Champion Spokane led by longtime Indoor coach Adam Shackleford will be a force to be reckoned with. On the other side Kevin Guy and the Arizona Rattlers will also be a force even as a de facto expansion club. Picks for the IFL Intense Conference has Arizona facing Spokane in the Conference Championship, winner to close to pick at this moment.

United Conference

Unlike the changes in the Intense Conference the United Conference brings back all 5 clubs from 2016. While last season Green Bay and Iowa were in the cellar, Wichita Falls and Cedar Rapids fought until the end for the home playoff game.. That will not happen this season, Cedar Rapids was truly unimpressive this offseason and they look to be in 5th Place. Green Bay has been a young team in development for a while and they don't look to be playoff material don't count them out as they could surprise us. Wichita Falls continues to look well (which is the opposite of their attendance) and Iowa really is looking to have built a playoff capable team after finishing with a franchise worst finish in 2016. But that doesn't matter in the United Conference unless someone knocks out the King, the Sioux Falls Storm. Sioux Falls is looking to dominate again in 2017 and just added 3 years to Kurtiss Riggs so expect some more championships. Pick for IFL United Conference Sioux Falls beats who cares at this point.

Games to Watch

Well there are a few of these this year, and thank god the IFL will now be free on YouTube for the 2017 season. The first game to watch has a good shot at Game of the Year as the Kings of Indoor Football, the 10 time Indoor Champion Sioux Falls Storm, face off against the Kings of Arena Football, the 5 time ArenaBowl Champion and IFL newcomer, the Arizona Rattlers. The game is set for Week 1 on Friday February 17th inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, SD.

The next is the series between Arizona and Spokane, both clubs left the AFL for the IFL in the last two seasons and will be fighting for the Intense Conference Championship. Arizona plays host to Spokane on Saturday April 22nd, while Spokane hosts the games on Friday May 12th and Saturday June 3rd. The final game to watch (at this point) is when a rematch of the 2016 United Bowl when Spokane visits the Sioux Falls Storm on Saturday May 6th in Sioux Falls, SD.

As we wrap things up the Indoor Football League has just two preseason games. One of those is this weekend with the traditional "Home Opener" for the Cedar Rapids Titans as they face the Iowa Barnstormers at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. The other preseason game will be played on Saturday February 11th when the SIF's travel only Cap City Bulls head to the Kay Yeager Coliseum to take on the Wichita Falls Nighthawks. This is just part one of three as we'll cover both the CIF and NAL closer to their seasons start dates.

Indoor Football Weekly Special Edition #2: The Shit Show 2017: Part Two

In our last article we covered the SIF and EIF. This time we are going to cover Arena Pro Football (APF), Can-Am Indoor Football (CAIF), and Elite Indoor Football Conference (EIFC). Again BEFORE YOU READ: this is a warning about these leagues and teams, while some of these teams are decent most of them are not and should be looked at carefully. To players, coaches, and fans who may get involved please be aware. No we will continue our journey through the underbelly of Indoor Football

To continue we will start with Arena Pro Football, this out of all FIVE of the leagues replacing the AIF is the most legitimate, but don’t let that fool you the APF is nowhere near the level of the CIF, IFL, or NAL in anyway. Arena Pro Football was originally scheduled to be called the National Arena Football League, but did change it before launching. In November the APF announced their first three clubs. The Savannah Coastal Outlaws, Myrtle Beach Sharks, and Birmingham Outlawz.

Let’s break all three of these teams down starting with the Savannah Coastal Outlaws. If Savannah reminds you of something it’s because in our last article we covered the Steam who are also supposed to make their home in that city. To start the Outlaws are scheduled to play just 5 games in APF, all on the road, while also playing two games against EIFC clubs. The rest of their schedule is actually being played in United States Indoor Football. The USIF is a 4 team league entirely based out of the Savannah Civic Center and is the developmental league of the APF. Yes you read that right a quarter decent ultra minor league has a “developmental league”. Up next is the Myrtle Beach Sharks, and if Myrtle Beach sounds familiar it’s because they had the Freedom of the AIF play in town last season. However the difference is that the Sharks have not yet announced their home arena for 2017. And third we have the Birmingham Outlaws, after posting some time last year on their Facebook page that they would be playing out of a decent sized arena in Birmingham they have backtracked on that. They’ll instead be playing out of the Shelby County Exhibition Center in Columbiana, AL, which is some 37 miles away from Birmingham. The fourth team announced was for a club in Virginia, eventually it was announced that the Virginia club would be the new Richmond Roughriders playing out of the Richmond Coliseum, former home of the Speed, Bandits, and Raiders. However the APF made the announcement seem more depressing by saying “Professional indoor football likely will return next spring” as well “The APF is expected to compete in 2017 as an eight-team circuit” and “Teams are expected to play eight-game schedules”. Not very optimistic in an announcement of a new team. Next up as the fifth team to join the APF was the Florida Tarpons, the Tarpons are one of the few stable teams in the Eastern United States being founded in 2012, they’ll now enter their fourth league in 6 years. They concern me, why? You ask. Well it’s because the Tarpons originally announced they would play in the Arena Development League, now the National Arena League. The Tarpons had stated they felt like the ADL/NAL model was unsustainable and the APF model was better, the only difference is the APF is much cheaper and has shadier teams, yes “better”. The sixth and final team for 2017 is the River City Raiders, the Raiders are also a somewhat stable club being based in St. Charles, MO since 2013. They concern me as well because the Raiders were originally admitted to Champions Indoor Football for 2017, they stated the reason they left was due to Chicago folding and their schedule being damaged. However the real reason I have been told was the Raiders didn’t have the finances necessary to play in the CIF. Leaving for another league with massively higher travel costs is never a good thing to do.

Arena Pro Football also announced an expansion team for 2018, the Carolina Wildcats, again not a smart move to announce another expansion team when you haven’t completed the first season. Arena Pro Football also was to have had a partnership with the Elite Indoor Football Conference, and the Savannah Coastal Outlaws are on the EIFC website to play two games but it has been pulled from the APF site. The league will have 2 games against the SIF with Myrtle Beach hosting Cape Fear on April 29th in the Gridiron Classic and Richmond hosting the Triangle Torch in the Capital City Showdown. On top of those the APF will also play the CAIF in the Arena Football Challenge Cup between each leagues champions. The good thing about the APF unlike the EIF they have a schedule released and unlike the SIF the scheduled (outside of Savannah) each team plays between 7 and 9 league games and a total between 7 and 10.

Speaking of the CAIF we move on to them, officially known as Can-Am Indoor Football, this league resembles the mind, body, and soul of everything we came to know about the old AIF. It is an eastern based league (check), it has way to many teams including travel only (check), the games on each schedule vary (check), and not all teams playing home games have arenas (check). It’s a perfect amount of garbage for a dumpster fire to start. I’ll make this short on the CAIF. It was started as a replacement for the AIF so that the Vermont Bucks had a league to play in. There are 10 teams in it’s first season which include 3 travel only teams (Boston, Connecticut, and Glens Falls), 4 teams (per the league’s website) have no home arenas (Lockport, Niagara Falls, NY, Niagara, ON, and Rochester), and only 3 teams (Buffalo who announces theirs on 1/26, New Hampshire, and Vermont)  that have a home arena! Out of these 10 teams Boston is scheduled to play only 2 games, while 3 teams (Connecticut, Glens Falls, and Lockport who is set for 2 home games) are scheduled to play 4 games. While the 4 teams (Buffalo, Niagara, Niagara Falls, and New Hampshire who is scheduled to play an SIF club) are set to play 8 games. And Vermont well their set for 11 games! Yes 11 games, 8 games in the CAIF and 3 non-league games!! Then of course as mentioned earlier the Arena Football Challenge Cup which is set to have the CAIF Champion play the APF Champion.

And now last and certainly least is the EIFC or Elite Indoor Football Conference (which yes is different from the EIF), this league was founded by the Central Florida Jags as a league for them to play in. What teams are in the EIFC? Glad you asked we have the league founders the Central Florida Jags, the Florida Generals, the Lake Park Tigers, the Miracle City Great White, the Polk County Venom, the South Florida Barracudas, and yes the damn Palm Beach Phantoms. What does this league have going for it? Well every team is playing 9 or 10 regular season games and that’s it because only (according to the website) literally only the Central Florida Jags have a home arena (the Lakeland Center in Lakeland, FL)

For all of you who have stuck with I do appreciate it, I know it has been a painful and bumpy train ride so far but we’re almost to the last station. As I mentioned before there are a few teams in these leagues and that’s what we’ll talk about now. The only team that I give a Seal of Approval (for players and fans) to is Florida Tarpons. The Tarpons will be entering their Sixth season in 2017 and in their fourth league, besides the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks and Columbus Lions (both of whom play in the NAL)  the Tarpons are the third strongest team on the east coast. As for a fan investment I can also say the River City Raiders are ok, the only reason is due to all Raiders tickets being free. Other than those a wait and see attitude should be used for players for the Raiders since they just bailed from the CIF as well a wait and see on the Vermont Bucks and Central Florida Jags. I would stay away from every other club as there are bound to be more than a few dumpster fires of both teams and leagues. And now folks we have arrived at the station and you may exit the train now that this painful tour through the underbelly of indoor football is done.

Indoor Football Weekly Special Edition #1: The Shit Show 2017: Part One

BEFORE YOU READ: this is a warning to players and fans about how poorly teams and leagues can be run, now that the disclaimer is done we shall continue. By good it's awful out there, that's right even though the dreaded American Indoor Football finally folded it's not over. Why? Do you ask, well because we have not one, not two, not even just three, but five yes FIVE garbage leagues polluting indoor football this year. Yes it hurts and we all know it but there are some, well, decent teams in these leagues.

To start our journey of pain through the underbelly of indoor football off we'll start with the league that was originally launched in 2016, Supreme Indoor Football. Yes, yes the SIF, the league was started by the Cape Fear Heroes owner in 2016 and was to have partnered with a reborn CIFL. There was many problems, starting with the CIFL could never get off the ground and was dead. But like a phoenix Supreme Indoor Football rose again! Well sorta, the SIF didn’t have enough teams to make a decent league so they have um “partnered” with the EIF (Elite Indoor Football) for the 2017 season. This should tell you how garbage this league is right off the bat, plus they can’t decide how many teams are in the SIF. How you ask? Well depending on where you look on the website (and whether or not you count the EIF teams listed, but we’ll get to that later) they have five, six, or eight teams in the SIF!

For sake of sanity we’ll talk about the EIF clubs later, but currently listed in their Standings area on the Website are the Cap City Bulls, the team is based out of Austin, TX however per their schedule (on the Bulls Website) they’ll play an all road game schedule of 8 games. These games will span four different indoor leagues, including exhibition games against the IFL’s Wichita Falls Nighthawks, and the NAL’s Monterrey Steel. Next up we have the league owners team, the Cape Fear Heroes. The Heroes are based out of the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, NC and per the SIF website they have a Seven game schedule, and that’s all the info we have, yep off to a great start so far. Third in line we have the Georgia M.O.B. (or MOB depending on where you look) they are scheduled to play out of Conyers, GA (where I have no idea) and have a whopping four games scheduled in 2017! The M.O.B. don’t even have a website just a Facebook page wow. In fourth place is another expansion club the Greenville Dragons, the Dragons we’re admitted with no home! Yes the SIF let them in this “league” as a travel team and having them secure a venue for 2018. The SIF website lists them as playing four games while the team site has them playing six! Another reason the SIF can’t make up their mind. But I digress last but not least of the teams (at least listed in the standings) is a team who actually played in 2016! It’s the Triangle Torch (yes it’s a stupid name, we know). The Torch played in the now dead AIF in 2016 and finished with a 3-4 record with one game cancelled besides the seven played. They made their home turf out of the J.S. Dorton Arena at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, NC. Per the SIF website they have a whopping five games scheduled and oh gee no website!

And to finish off the SIF they also have listed on their website the Anderson Gladiators who are nowhere to be found in the schedule or standings! As a background the Gladiators we’re originally announced as part of the ADL (now NAL) but bolted to the SIF and have been said to have not found a home arena. We also have listed in the teams section the Louisiana Cottonmouths, a failed AIF expansion team in 2016, and the South Carolina Ravens, a team who was scheduled to play 2017 in the AIF.

Now on to something even more painful, Elite Indoor Football. Yes ELITE Indoor Football, the EIF was founded by Bobby Dammarell the owner of the Savannah Steam. I won’t get into it to deep here but his wife Jenny, was booked into a county jail for “deposit account fraud”. The team was also told by the City of Savannah that due to it’s debts they wouldn’t be allowed a lease at the Savannah Civic Center again, in fact they can’t even play there as a road team! Next we have the Carolina Cowboys, based out of ?, South Carolina. Yes they don’t have a home arena or even city leased and their using the Dallas Desperados logo jeez. Next up is the Florida Tribe to be based out of Tallahassee, FL, where is their home arena, nobody knows. The Roanoke Militia were announced as the fourth team in the EIF, all we know is their base is Roanoke, VA. And finally the fifth and newest team the Atlanta Furious. Where do they play? You guessed it nobody knows. This is a league shrouded in mystery and unprofessionalism, per the website they will play a March through June schedule but yet don’t have an actual schedule released, and all but Savannah don’t have a website!

Stay tuned for Part Two of this nightmarish mess, we’ll show you the disaster of the Can-Am Indoor Football, Arena Pro Football, and the Elite Indoor Football Conference (yes it’s a different league).

Indoor Football Weekly #8 Offseason Edition: December

Credit: Our Sports Central

Well everyone in the two months since our last post there has been another shit storm thats happened in the world of Indoor Football. So sit back relax, strap in, and enjoy the ride because here we go!

Credit: Indoor Football League

As normal we'll start off with the league that's had the least happen since our last visit and that ironically is the Indoor Football League. Last time we covered the folding Billings and the addition of Arizona. Since then the IFL has released there schedule and in the opening week is a game we've all been hoping for. The Sioux Falls Storm will take on the Arizona Rattlers at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, SD at 7:05PM on Friday, February 17th. We will be doing a game of the week for each league this season and this will be the first IFL Game of the Week! The IFL will still play a 16 game schedule starting Thursday February 16th and ending Saturday June 17th. The playoff format will revert to what is has been most of the past few seasons. The #1 seed will host the #2 seed in the Conference Championship with no 1st round game. I found the United Conference Semi-Final to be a good one last season as both teams were deserving, all this does is set the stage for a guaranteed Sioux Falls hosting. My prediction is Sioux Falls vs ? in the United Conference Championship in Sioux Falls, SD and Arizona vs Spokane. I do believe that there is truly a 3 way race for that second spot in the United Conference but not in the Intense. The Conference Championship will be held June 23rd-25th and the United Bowl July 7-9th.

As we stay in the same area we move on to Champions Indoor Football a somewhat bigger change has happened with the Chicago Eagles suspending operations for the 2017 season. That however is not a huge shock to this girl at all, per the CIF website they didn't report any attendance figures and from the video footage of last season there attendance was almost non existent. The River City Raiders are also having been reported to have left the CIF, the reasoning said was that Chicago folding was to detrimental to keep them in the CIF. Since those changes have happened a new schedule or alignment to the league has not been announced. Once we do receive the information we will update it. As of this afternoon the CIF announced their new schedule and alignment. Rather than the 4 division alignment that was originally announced the league will be split into two 7 team Conferences. The Northern Conference (Bloomington, Bismarck, Kansas City, Omaha, Salina, Sioux City, and West Michigan) and the Southern Conference (Amarillo, CenTex, Dallas, Dodge City, Duke City, Texas, and Wichita) is how the league will align for 2017. The schedule will start out on Saturday February 25th when the Omaha Beef take on the Sioux City Bandits. The season finishes on Saturday June 3rd with 4 games that day. With the new schedule and alignment a playoff announcement was not part of it but when the playoff schedule is announced we will be sure to update it.

A quick update on the Arena Football League is after dropping down to just Four clubs an expansion team (which is still unnamed) for Baltimore, MD was handed to Monumental Sports and Entertainment (owners of the Washington Valor) to add a 5th club to the AFL for 2017.

Credit: National Arena League

To wrap everything up let's finish it with the newest league of them all. That is what was known as the Arena Development League (get to that later) the newest addition at the time of the last post was the Anderson Gladiators, due to apparent lease issues (aka them not having a lease) they left the ADL and joined the SIF. As for new clubs announced since then, the Corpus Christi Rage were announced to play out of the American Bank Center. Also the Florida Tarpons had joined the league on October 20th, and given a nice boost of an older stable team to the league, and bailed then on November 10th for an AIF replacement league Arena Pro Football. The reason why!? Well they didn't want to spend the money the ADL was requiring and had no faith that the league would last multiple seasons, do I blame them? Yes, there just stupid, if they don't have money to play in a real league don't play at all. Finally was the big news on a November Press Conference, the Arena Development League changed it's name (and structure) to the National Arena League while at the same time adding the former AFL club the Jacksonville Sharks. Since coming into the league the Sharks have signed players from last seasons AFL squad and numerous IFL All Stars, I fully expect this to be the team to beat in the (now) NAL. In late November one other club was added, the Mexican team, the Monterrey Steel, where did Northern Kentucky go? Nobody knows but there not here anymore. A few short weeks later the NAL schedule was released, the first game in league history and first NAL Game of the Week is the Columbus Lions vs Jacksonville Sharks. The Sharks will visit "The Jungle" at the Columbus Civic Center to take on last years (yes this doesn't mean much as the league was a joke) AIF Champion Lions. I fully expect this game to set the tone for the league which is playing Arena Style minus the rebound nets. A background on the schedule, Jacksonville will host 8 games, Dayton and Corpus Christi will host 5, the other 5 teams will each host 6 games in a 12 game schedule. After the 12 game, 14 week regular season the NAL will have the top 4 teams qualify for it's playoffs. June 23-25 is Semi-Final Weekend while the NAL Championship Game will be played on the weekend of July 7-9.

The NAL really made some standout moves this month, with changing there name and adding Jacksonville, I can't wait to see how the league gets played out. On the other hand the CIF should already have an updated schedule released or at least say what's happening to the teams. The IFL made a very stupid move, after expanding the Playoffs last season, which made it enjoyable for us at IFW for once contracted it back to 4 teams with 3 seeds practically locked in. Until next time that's the news and all we have time for, we'll be back with one, maybe two more offseason posts before the season starts. So long folks!

Indoor Football Weekly #7 Offseason Edition: October

Well everyone this is A LOT later than I had hoped to be posting this however there has been some MASSIVE fallout in this sport in just the past week and I wanted to wait until everything was finished as to not leave any speculation.  We'll start off with the small shit first and then move on. I'll do my best to keep this as usual league by league but that may not happen.

Starting off with the newest league that I've been the most critical of, the Arena Development League, as of last post the league only had 4 clubs and only 3 a home arena (YIKES!). That has changed as they announced the Georgia Firebirds would join from the folded AIF, the Firebirds will play out of the 8,000 seat Albany Civic Center as they did last season, in the AIF (which I know doesn't mean much) they finished with a record of 3-5 (including one forfeit but not including 2 non league wins). The other 2 teams that have been announced are the Anderson (SC) Gladiators who will be playing their first season out of the 5,100 seat Anderson Civic Center and a yet unnamed franchise in Northern Kentucky to play out of the 9,400 seat BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, KY on the campus of Northern Kentucky University. If anyone remembers that arena it's because it was formerly the home of the Northern Kentucky River Monsters in 2011 and 2014. The Dayton Wolfpack still haven't announced a home arena which isn't looking good heading into the fall, but changes may be on the way with an 8th expansion club that we'll get to shortly.

Onto somewhat bigger news out of Champions Indoor Football, the last time we spoke about the league they had the same 12 clubs with CenTex replacing San Angelo and Mesquite changed their name to Dallas, since them that has changed BIG TIME. We have had 4 teams announced as expansion since then. The first 2 are existing clubs, who yes unfortunately moved from the AIF, the River City Raiders (playing out of the Family Arena in St. Charles, MO) and the West Michigan Ironmen (playing out of the L.C. Walker Arena in Muskegon, MI). I was throughly impressed by the Ironmen (except in their last game) by being able to make it to the AIF title game by way of beating Lehigh Valley, lets see how they do in the CIF. The other expansion clubs have been the Kansas City Phantoms, who just recently announced they'll actually play out of the Silverstein Eye Care Centers Arena in Independence, MO, and Bismarck (the northern most team in the league) who will play out of thank god the Bismarck Event Center and not the V.F.W. Sports Center (home of the NAHL Bismarck Bobcats). The league also announced they'll have 4 divisions of 4 teams with an 8 team playoffs and continue to play a 12 game season. The Divisions look as such Northeast (Bloomington, Chicago, River City, and West Michigan), Northwest (Bismarck, Kansas City, Omaha, Sioux City), Central (Dodge City, Duke City, Salina, Wichita), and South (Amarillo, CenTex, Dallas, Texas Revs). I really do like this setup though personally I find the league playing 12 games to be way to short and I'd like to see them expand the schedule to 14 but I'll take it.

Now onto the biggest news, we usually don't cover things involving the Arena Football League but here we go. I will start out with this, unless the league gets it's act together and starts cost cutting it's fucked, there I said it. As of the time we are writing this the Arena Football League has 4 thats right just 4 clubs, the existing Cleveland Gladiators, Philadelphia Soul, Tampa Bay Storm, and expansion Washington (D.C.) Valor. Thats right folks since the league came back with 17 clubs in 2010 and had a high of 18 in 2011 the league has lost teams each and every season. Now your asking what happened to the other 4 teams, well hold on I'm getting there! The Portland Steel (whose market was stolen away from the bills paying Portland Thunder owner) and the LA Kiss have effectively folded. Neither team made an official statement but were dispersed in an expansion draft, so now we're down from the original 9 for next year to 7. The last week Orlando announced "due to the reduced number of teams operating" they would suspend operations, ya more like fold. The same day not even 2 hours later Jacksonville announced it would leave the AFL for a "rival league", and now we're down to 5. Then as of yesterday the most successful AFL club of all time, the Arizona Rattlers, announced they would move to the IFL. Now rumors have floated that LA, Jacksonville, and Orlando will join the IFL, and I'm not gonna be nice about this. THAT"S JUST FUCKING STUPID. In LA you now have the Rams who have come back so a whopping ZERO people will care to go to an IFL game in Anaheim, plus the workers comp is outrageous so this makes no sense at all, As for Jacksonville and Orlando, well Orlando is dead so count them out, but the closest IFL team to Jacksonville is a 17 hour bus trip to Wichita Falls, TX. Yes Jacksonville would leave the AFL, which is now entirely based on the east coast for a Mid-West based league to jack there travel costs back up coupled with the expected 50% attendance drop would make it totally worth the move. No Jacksonville should look at the ADL which would play in it's own area, and from their last release it looks as if they will be the 8th ADL club.

So now onto the Indoor Football League just real quickly, the Colorado Crush have been bought by the Salt Lake owners and Billings has folded. This coupled with Arizona joining will keep the league at 10 clubs for 2017. The conferences should be realigned now, it makes no sense to have Wichita Falls in a conference with the northern teams and Nebraska in with the Western clubs. In reality the league should look like this: Intense (Arizona, Colorado, Salt Lake, Spokane, Wichita Falls), United (Cedar Rapids, Green Bay, Iowa Barnstormers, Nebraska, Sioux Falls). With everything that's gone on it does look like the IFL is now set up for success and as long as someone not named Sioux Falls wins the title I think that will continue.

Roast me if you want but this is the reality of our sport. I think it's a great move for Jacksonville and Arizona to ditch the dying AFL as this sport needs to be based on a regional and not national level. There's also a bunch of garbage league going on (I'm looking at you EIF) that I won't cover right now. We'll be back in November or even late October with another edition of Indoor Football Weekly. Until then I thank everyone and Indoor Football Forum and the crazyness that is this sport, so long folks!

Venue Trek - Richfield Ice Arena/Minnesota Magicians

Richfield Ice Arena exterior

Arena - Richfield Ice Arena

Address - 636 E 66th St, Richfield, MN 55423

Capacity - 1,800 (Rink 1)

Home of - Minnesota Magicians (NAHL - Tier II Junior)

Game Info - 9/30/16 vs Coulee Region Chill, Attendance 324, Score Magicians Win 6-3

A Nice Affordable Family Outing

While some buildings in this league have frills at or near Professional Hockey quality, this is not one of them. The Richfield Ice Arena was opened in 1971 tucked away in the Twin Cities suburb of Richfield, sandwiched between Minneapolis and Bloomington. The Richfield Ice Arena has been the home of many great hockey players from both the Academy of Holy Angels (including Erik Johnson and Mike Reilly) and Richfield High School (including former Minnesota Wild player Darby Hendrickson). Richfield High School has since folded their hockey program but has combined with Southwest Christian (from Chaska, MN) and will play half their games in Chaska and half in Richfield. The Academy of Holy Angels also plays all their games inside the Ice Arena but the main tenant is the Minnesota Magicians.

Richfield Ice Arena entrance

From the time you walk into the building it's made known that it's the Magicians home. The sign atop the entrance reads "Home of the Magicians". In the lobby as you enter there is a jersey with the players through (the relatively short) history of the club who've played D1 Hockey. They also have their schedule printed over a door to the old Hat Trick Hockey entrance and another set of windows that feature their D1, D3, and International Pro Alumni. The lobby isn't that fancy as it's just a table set up to sell tickets. As you go past the ticket booth you can enter Rink 1 to your left or the concessions are down the hall on the right. The concessions are at a good price with single items ranging from $1.50-$3.50, and meals running at $5 or $6. Even though there is a large area in the concessions (filled with Trophies from the various high school and youth programs) there is only one register which can become a problem in between periods as lines become long. Restrooms are immediately to the right and left of the entrance to Rink 1. Once you enter the Rink you walk directly into the merchandise table, which is a nice touch, but can be very understocked early on and late into the season.

Center Ice from Section 17

 Once inside Rink 1 going up the stairs to the right will take you to Section 17 the left will take you to Section 1. The Magicians shoot twice along the left (as you enter) side of the rink, but do pregame warmups along the right side. A few nice touches to this arena are the seats being elevated 3 feet from ice level, the 5 rows of seats rise steeply which give rows 3-5 plus the barstool seats a nice view. While on the other hand the lower 2 rows don't have the greatest view. They are 2-2.5 feet from the ice and near the corners can get as far away as 4 feet. If you show up early (or at all on Friday nights in the Fall) there is a large amount of seating to choose from. The Magicians will rarely draw over 800 so seating is abundant and this year is all General Admission. Tickets are an affordable $10 for adults, $8 for Child/Senior, with multi-ticket packages including 2 tickets and 2 tap beers for $25, 4 tickets and 4 tap beers for $40, and a $40 Family Pack for $40 with 4 tickets and 4 bags of Chuck A Pucks. Even with the low ticket prices the attendance (as mentioned before) is not the best in the league, especially on Fall Friday nights. This can create a serious lack of atmosphere from the fans in attendance, but the club does as much as possible with lights and music to help, which it does to an extent.

Final Thoughts

Pros

Seating surrounds the Rink

Seats elevated 3 feet above ice level provides good viewing angles from higher rows

Good amount of parking, all of which is free

Team presentation is very good, with lights and music

Magicians make it known they are THE main tenant

Cons

Lower seats are 2-2.5 feet from the boards, corners as far as 4 feet

Small amount of items to choose from in team shop during the early and late season

Lack of crowds at many games creates a lack of atmosphere

Only one register at concession stand can make for long lines

Neutral

Hard to get too when there is construction along Portland Ave, otherwise relatively easy

Small to average crowds in an 1,800 seat building provides plenty of seating options

At the end of the day it's still a high school rink

Overall it's a nice experience, the hockey action is great as always provided by the Minnesota Magicians and the North American Hockey League. I would highly recommend getting out to Richfield and the Ice Arena to watch the club play.

Final Rating 2.5/5